Monday, 18 February 2013

Sister Assassin (Sister Assassin, #1) by Kiersten White

Blurb (from Goodreads):

She never chose her deadly gift but now she’s forced to use it. How far would you go to protect the only family you have left?

Annie
is beset by fleeting strange visions and a guilty conscience. Blind and
orphaned, she struggles to care for her feisty younger sister Fia, but
things look up when both sisters are offered a place at Kessler School
for Exceptional Girls.

Born with flawless intuition, Fia
immediately knows that something’s wrong, but bites her tongue… until
it’s too late. For Fia is the perfect weapon to carry out criminal plans
and there are those at Kessler who will do anything to ensure her
co-operation.

With Annie trapped in Kessler’s sinister clutches,
instincts keep Fia from killing an innocent guy and everything unravels.
Is manipulative James the key to the sisters’ freedom or an even darker
prison? And how can Fia atone for the blood on her hands?AKA-

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers and Netgalley.)17-year-old Fia, and 19-year-old Annie are sisters. Annie is blind, but she also has visions of the future, her first being one of their parents being killed in a car accident.Fia and Annie both attend a ‘school’ – The Kessler School for Exceptional Girls, but this is no ordinary school. This school is run to find girls with special talents, and to then exploit them. There are several distinctive talents that the school has found – feelers, who can feel other people’s emotions, readers, who can read other people’s thoughts, and seers, who can see the future. Annie is a seer, but Fia is something that nobody has come across before. Fia has perfect instincts. No matter what the question or the situation, Fia knows what is right and wrong.Because of this Fia is very valuable; for picking which shares to invest in, picking people’s pockets, knowing who can and cannot be trusted, and even killing people. But Fia doesn’t want this life, she just wants for her sister to be safe.What more does the management want from Fia? Will they really harm Annie if Fia misbehaves? And how long can Fia keep going on like this?I really enjoyed this book. Fia was so bad-ass, but so broken all at the same time, and at times I wondered what all the stress and constant not-planning, not-thinking (so the seers and readers could affect her) was really doing to her. She was so good at what she could do, but so conflicted by what she was forced to do, and this showed itself in so many ways. I have to say that Fia did worry m eas at times it seemed like she was heading for a real breakdown, and the added pressure of keeping Annie safe, was really pushing her to breaking point.Annie was an interesting character, and the fact that she was blind only added to Fia and Annie’s troubles. I liked how Annie always tried her best, although I think she was hiding from herself just what Fia was going through, and how the ‘school’ were using her.I liked the storyline in this book. It was very difficult to work out what was going to happen next, it was fast paced, and there was tension all the way through.I was a little unsure of how this book was going to end, but it turned out to be okay. The ending was left open for the next book though.I did enjoy Kiersten White’s ‘Paranormalcy’ series, and although this was a little darker, it was funny in places too, and I think really compliments the ‘Paranormalcy’ series well.Overall; a great paranormal YA, highly recommended.8.5 out of 10.

Sister Assassin will be released on February 19th 2013.

If you choose to pre-order this book, make sure to head over to the author's website afterward, as she is giving away signed bookmarks to everyone who pre-orders, and there's also a chance to win other prizes:

THREE people will win an unsigned hardcover Paranormalcy trilogy, courtesy of my fabulous publisher, HarperTeen!

TWO people will win a signed, personalized hardcover Paranormalcy trilogy.

And ONE person will win a signed, personalized hardcover Paranormalcy
trilogy, a signed, personalized copy of MIND GAMES, an iPod shuffle (in
Fia's Eyes Blue), an iTunes giftcard, and a handwritten,
never-released, available nowhere else playlist that I used extensively
while writing MIND GAMES and its sequel!

I really enjoyed Paranormalcy too so I've been curious about this book but so many bleh reviews have been appearing. I'm glad to see you enjoyed it though you do make it sound like something I would like too! Fia definitely sounds like my kind of MC >.< Great review, muffin!

I was so confused when I first started seeing posts about Sister Assassins. I thought maybe it was a prequel or sequel to Mind Games but then someone told me they are the same book. Does anyone know why the different titles? I enjoyed your review, it sounds like this book is a pretty good one!

I think it's just the different publishers, a bit like the different covers I guess. Don't know why they did it, but personnally, I think the UK title and cover fits the book much better than the US one.

I really liked this read too. I surprised myself with just how much I worried about Fia - I seriously thought she would have some sort of mental breakdown with what was happening to her. I can't wait to find out how White takes the story next.